Air propeller blade



Oct. 10, 1939,

V. LOUGHEEIZIv AIR PROPELLER BLADE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1` Filed Jan. 13, 1938 n y, lnlli IIIIH mm xm ,NN v E@ NNWN ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR /aiar Zafgred ATTORNEY particularly to a method of .the whole or a portion of them in greater degree Patented ct. l0, 1939 UNITED STA-Tes PATENT ori-fica 'l Claims. My invention relates to air propellers'and more making a solid, air propeller blade of Vhigh strength in proportion to its weight.

Most of the air propeller blades in commercial use today on the larger aircraft are solid bladesA made in one piece from some metal alloy suchas aluminum or magnesium alloys. 'I'hese blades are not entirely satisfactory since they are sub.- ject to failure under high speed operation, such failure almost invariably resulting in serious accident. Experience with these blades, which are chiefly loaded by excessive vibration and enormous centrifugal force, shows' that a slight scratch on the surface tends to develop into a crack which under working conditions results in a blade vibrating or flying off, thereby so radically unbalancing the revolving propeller and the motor as to cause instant disaster to the aircraft.

There are generally two possible solutions for this propeller problem. One is to strengthen blades in a higher degree than such strengthening renders them heavier. The other is to lighten than lightening renders them weaker. An ideal compromise would be to strengthen while lighteningl the blade.

The ultimate strength of the best approved aluminum alloy used in air propeller blades is about 55,000 pounds per square inch; the yield point is only 35,000 pounds; and the fatigue limit is not higher than 15,000 pounds. For safety purposes it would be desirable to increase these Shell of laminated values substantially, for example, an increase in the ultimate strength to 100,000 pounds per square inch or more, for the same or a less density-of 2.67 times as heavy as'water. Previous attempts to do this, however, have resulted unsatisfactorily because they have involved the use of substantially heavier materials made hollow, and fabricated in ways that conduce to failure.

An object of my invention is to(provide a solid air propeller blade that has unusually high strength and lowA density. v ,I l

A further object is to providea propeller blade of non-homogeneous material, tending to dampen rather than to amplify vibration, and of a compound structure immune to total failure from the effects of partial failure.v

In its preferred embodiment, the air propeller blade ofmy invention is characterized generally by a core of solid plasticmaterial and an outer reinforced plastic material firmly bonded to the plastic core. `-Although this blade is of solid construction it has a relatively (Cl. 17o-159) low mean density and an extremely high tensile strength. This type of blade can be made of a density of 2.0, with a unidirectional breaking strength of about 100,000. pounds per square inch, which strength is in the direction of thegreatest 'l v stress, the centrifugal, encountered inithe use of these blades on high-power 'aircraft motors. Such unusual strength I-prefer to provide pri' marily by means of the reinforced plastic materal that forms the outer shell vof the blade. I 10 have found it advantageousV to use for this purpose the type of reinforced plastic material disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 184,797, filed January 13, 1938.-

This material, the details of which are fully l5' disclosed in the copending application, consists fundamentally of steel-Wire-'organic-iiber web or tape larninationsi impregnated 4or coated with a suitable plastic material, for example, the phenol formaldehyde resin known as Bakelite;` and then 20 molded under fheat and pressure.

For application of this material to the present invention, the practical 4procedure ordinarily is to preaggregate the coated web ;or tapes over -a suitable, preferably-porousV fabric, metal, or 25 other former, as hereinafter disclosed.

The novel features of' my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. 'I'he invention itself; however, both as to organization and method ofooperation will be clearly 30 understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrateV the general method of fabricating my improved air propeller blades, and in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a mold with enclosed, unexpanded, air propeller blade former covered `with reinforced plastic material before injectio'n'ofA the core of plastic material;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectiontal view similar 40 to Fig. 1 but after the injection of the core of plastic material. and with the blade former expanded; i

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the completed air propeller blade with plastic core, 4|;` expanded blade former, and shell ,of reinforced plastic material;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along lines 4-4 of Fig. 1:. c

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along lines 5-5 50 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a fragment of the completed blade with partsv broken away to show. the several constituents.

Referring now to the several, figures in the 55 2 drawings and rst to Figs. 1 and 4, the mold comprises two halves I0 and Il which are joined together by means of bolt and nut assemblies I2. These two mold halves have inner concave surfaces which form the mold cavity I3. Clamped into one end of this split mold is an extension I4 having an L-shaped channel I5 formed therein. This channel connects with the mold cavity I3 at one of its endsand is closed at the other end by means of a plunger I6. In accordance with this invention, the L-shaped channel I5 is filled with a mass of plastic material indicated at I1.

The reinforced plastic material which is to form the/shell of the air propeller blade is shown generally at I8. This material may consist of a large number of laminations of plastic coated wire braid such as disclosed in the above copending application and shown generally in Fig. 6. The expansible blade former which is used for forming the air propeller blade, is indicated at I9. This former may be made of any suitable material which will be readily expanded by lnjection of the plastic material under pressure as described above.

An example of a suitable blade former is a thin, ductile sheet-metal bag indicated at I9 in collapsed condition and preferably pierced by a large number of relatively small holes 20r extending through the bag. The expansible blade former I9 is placed in the mold cavity I3 in the manner indicated =in Figs. 1 and 4 at the beginning of the operation with the reinforced plastic material I8 described above disposed and attached suitably over and around the blade form I9. Sumcient amount of thisreinforced material is thus got into the mold cavity to form the ultimate shell of the finished blade. For example, the mold cavity may be completely but loosely filled with this material, which under the pressure to be subsequently applied through the blade former, will be compressed against the walls of the mold cavity I3.

The method of forming the air propeller blade is indicated in Figs. 2 and 5. Referring to those two figures it will be noted that the compression plunger I6 has been pushed down from its high initial position shown in Fig. 1, and thereby has forced the plasticmaterial I1 from the L-shaped chamber I5 into the perforated expansible metal bag or former I9. Sufficient pressure is applied to the molded material to expand the blade former I9 to the desired size whereby the reinforced plastic material I8 is highly compressed against the walls of the cavity I3 and forms a relatively thin shell of the air propeller blade. As the plastic material I1 is forced into the metal bag I9 a portion of it escapes through the openings 20 to the outside surface of the bag and is there compressed against and amalgamated with the reinforced plastic material I8. During this operation th'e mold, including the two halves Il and I I, is heated to a suitable temperature to cure the mass of plastic material I1 and also the plastic constituent of the reinforced plastic material I8 so thatwith subsequent cooling these materials will set as a unitary hardened mass. The plastic material I1 constitutes the core in the finished blade and also serves as a bonding medium between this core and the outer shelll of reinforced plastic material I8 by virtue of the fact that some of the plastic material I1 extends through perforations 20 in the blade form I9 and unites with the outside reinforced plastic material Il. lIn this manner, a strong, continuous b ond Is effected between the core and the outer shell of the blade. To insure strong bonding through the former without too much now of plastic through it, the numerous holes with which it is pierced may be round or any other desired shape.

Referring to Fig. 3, the nished blade comprises a hardened plastic core 2|, the perforated blade former I9, and a hardened reinforced plastic shell 22, all molded together as one unitary body. The reinforced plastic shell 22 may be made of any desired thickness by regulating the amount of material initially used in the mold cavity I3, in Fig. 1. In the usual case the amount 0f this material is limited to that which will impart to the finished blade thedesired strength value such as, for example, 100,000 pounds per square inch. The core 2| of this blade may consist of any suitable plastic material or any other relatively light weight material that can be injected into the blade form during the molding operation as described above, and will set as a permanent hard core after application of temperature during the molding operation. Some reinforcement may be placed -within the plastic core if found useful. When a phenol formaldehyde resin is used as the plastic material, a molding temperature of about 325 F. is sufficient to cure the plastic without causing any drawing of the temper of the steel wires or damage to the fabric. The perforated blade former I9 may be made of any suitable ductile metal such as, for example, duralumin sheet or other expansible but preferably porous material such as cloth that will expand to thecdesired blade form under the pressure of the injected core material and will unite in a permanent bond with the core and outside shell of the finished blade. If the blade former is made of metal, perforating it' with a suitable system of holes, such as shown in Fig. 6, elongate perforations or slits'will be conducive to its expansion without breakage.

The illustration in Fig. 6 shows the blade core 2| surrounded by the perforated and now expanded blade former I9 which is in turn covered by the highly compressed, reinforced plastic material 22. This material shown partly in section, may consist of a plurality of fine steel wires 23 held in spaced relationship by means of organic fiber threads 24, such as, for example, cotton, linen, silk, hemp, jute and sisal, the wireua'nd ber threads being coated with the plastic mateiial 25, which may be. for example, a phenolformaldehyde synthetic resin such as Bakelite, which will polymerize, that is, harden upon the application of heat. These laminations of reinforced plastic material are anchored at the root of the blade by some suitable means. I have found it advantageous to anchor these strips of reinforced material by ment of `anchor rings. This arrangement is not claimed in the present application since it forms the subject matter of my copending application 1Serial No. 189,720, nled February l0, 1938.

Various modifications may be made in the materials, arrangement, and method of formation means of a new arrangedescribed hereinabove without departing from the scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A solid air propeller blade comprising a core of plastic material, an expanded porous blade former surrounding said core and a shell of reinforced plastic material surrounding said blade for ,some of said plastic core `material permeating the openings in said porous blade former and serving as a bondim medium between said core and shell, all of the constituents of said blade being molded together as a unitary body.

2. An air propeller blade comprising a core of synthetic plastic, a perforated metal blade former vsurrounding said core and a shell of reinforced plastic material surrounding said metal blade former, said core pf plastic material extending through the perforations in said blade former and bonding said core with said outer reinforced plastic shell.

3. solid air propeller blade comprising a core of hardened synthetic resin, anl expanded blade former surrounding said core, and a shell .of reinforced plastic material surrounding said blade former, said reinforced material comprising a plurality of ne steel wires held in spaced relationship by means of organic i'lber threads, said wires and threads being arranged in the form of a web and covered with hardened plastic.

4. A solid air propeller blade as dened in claim 3 and further characterized by having the blade former consist of a perforated metal envelope.

5. A solid air propeller blade as dened in claim 3 and further characterized by the use of cotton threads as the organic bers in said web.

6. A solid air propeller blade as defined in claim 3 in which the blade former is made of porous cloth which is permeated by said plastic material.

7. A solid air propeller blade comprising a core of'hardened plastic material, a relatively thinwalled bag-like blade former surrounding said core and being extended thereby to the general form of a propeller blade, and a covering of reinforced hardened plastic material surrounding said blade former, said blade former being permeated by some of the plastic material in said l core and in said reinforced covering and constituting a connecting means therebetween.

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